Once, a long time ago, I had a job where the men's room was useful. This was because it had a foyer area around a bend from where the heavy use happened. But, in the intervening decades, something has happened: men's rooms are smaller, and the people in them are no longer as healthy. So now such conversations have to occur elsewhere.

Texas is the fastest-growing state in the nation. As people pour into this place, new construction is needed. Whether the money goes to that or not depends on how alert local officials are, which with a constantly-changing population and as a result no accountability, is probably not much. Further, I wouldn't say this place is a Republican state so much as that most of our Democratic hopes have been unrealistic. Most of Houston, Austin and San Antonio are Democratic strongholds. That's 3/4 big cities. We don't have many Democrats who are perceived as *realistic*, and often they create deregulation disasters like Anne Richards and her insurance debacle, where prices REALLY went up and hurt some people.

I really enjoyed this article. All of us who saw Budweiser and McDonald's and Kinko's slowly replace local businesses with faceless storefronts where a rotating stock of employees had almost zero accountability, as the cycle turns, are glad to see this "American icon" move on. We've been swindled into supporting many patriotic icons that were little more than mental fast food, and many more of us are turning to buy locally and reject genericulture -- we're turning back to what our German-American grandparents taught us, or how we do it in this town, or even regional pride or rural pride. We see the cities and their advertising bring no culture, only "brands." PS - we always called it "buttwiper."

Women tend to work different kinds of jobs that pay less, and respond less positively to the aggressive and banal workforce. I think they're figuring out that jobs suck and families function better if one person stays home. If the woman works for ten years (22-32) and then gets married, she may still have enough savings to contribute to the family that it can have an edge up over a single salary.

Hell, I wish I could stay home. People at jobs are dumb as bricks, and every government program designed to improve it just doubles the padding of morons.

Most people seem to think metal is the province of the lower classes, and ignore the fact that it has always been a middle-class genre.

I'd recommend the new Profanatica, "Profanatitas de Domonatia." It's a positive take on surging past religion and moralism to create greatness, laced with beautiful melodies and rhythmic hooks created out of your own skull.

A series of video games, the Carmageddon series, provided the cartoonish aspects. If you look at the games, you'll see that the movie borrows the instant replays, the hilarious brutality, the car shapes and weapons and even the closing sequence to the trailer from Carmageddon (I, II, II, III respectively).

Sorry to link to The People's Encyclopedia, but here's a good starter bit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon

Great article!

Who also speak forbidden truths, understand gnosis, and detest the Crowd for making pathways to truth not only taboo but sources of paranoid, reflexive fear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html

More information at the NYT article above.

"[T]he Civil War, or the War Between the States — however you want to refer to it — was not about slavery, it was about states' rights."

I'm glad someone finally mentioned this. It was originally how the Civil War was taught in American high schools because, politically, it is the historical truth.

That issue continues to rear its head because it was unresolved by that Civil War.

For example, abortion -- maybe it should be illegal in Georgia, and legal in California. Weed -- maybe it should be legal in Texas, and illegal in New York. Guns -- maybe they should be legal in New Mexico, and illegal in Massachusetts.

Different regions have different cultures and need different rules.

Although I believe in meritocracy, I think the elephant in the room is this: people aren't equal -- not in intelligence, abilities, health, beauty, and strength.

We can talk about how few of a certain group of students will make it to the level of middle class jobs, and blame "inequality," but are we blaming inequality in our society -- or a simple fact of nature, which is that relatively few people have the abilities to do that kind of work?

While I respect Ms. Didion, I think we're avoiding an ugly but fundamental truth of reality and trying to find "solutions" for a problem that doesn't exist -- the inequality of class.

If you look at any population, you'll find that abilities fit the "bell curve" formula, and humans aren't any different. We're just another animal. Sentience doesn't change the fact that only one in five has the intelligence to go to a competitive college and be a lawyer.

I know this is shocking for many, especially career liberals -- of which I am one -- but I think it's better to face reality and work with it instead of bloviating about an ideology that doesn't fit reality. Let's talk about the real issue: when we are we going to stop the wholesale destruction of our environment that is a human hallmark?

Our identity used to be cynicism, but now we can wide-eyed swear dedication to the People's party.

Am I the only one who thought cynicism was better?

Obama is a con-man who is pitching a product you want to buy: an identity. In reality, power has just transferred to his group of lobbyists and corporate sponsors, who handed him record amounts of money.

Change is never as easy as picking A instead of B from the options offered.